Here are some of our top recommendations when designing a mobile version of a website

So you’ve decided that your websites looking, well, a bit tired? You’ve decided that your company’s website is in need of a total revamp.

That’s to say the design looks dated and you believe that this could be putting off potential customers?

Plus, your marketing agency has stated that unless you have your website redesigned by a Cardiff web design agency soon, that your website as it stands, will continue to have a high bounce rate?

Now a high bounce rate could negatively affect a businesses marketing, plus if a lot of visitors leave a website, well this means that they’re not purchasing from you, so this is why the design of a website is crucial to reducing the businesses bounce rate.

So, what could be causing a high bounce rate?

Well there’s a lot of different reasons, however here are some of the more common ones:

· The website is slow

· The mobile version of the website is difficult to use

· The menu is poorly designed

And its now widely reported that over half of visitors will now use a smartphone to visit a website, so now its absolutely crucial that the design of the mobile version of your website is well designed.

Sometimes a web design company will concentrate on getting the desktop version of the website looking good, yet the company should also pay equal attention when designing the mobile version of the website.

This means that if the mobile version is not well designed, for example the main menu is not easy to use, then the website may always have a high bounce rate. A high bounce rate simply means shoppers are leaving on the first page that they visit.

This is why a web developer must spend a lot of time writing code, such as HTML, Javascript and also CSS, to ensure that enough time is spent designing the mobile version of the website.

If the mobile version is designed in a rush, because the marketing budget has all been used to design the desktop version of the site, then this is not going to serve the business well. That’s because often a high number of visitors will also visit the mobile version.

So your Cardiff website designer must spend a lot of time also building the mobile version of your website.

But what does well-designed even mean?

It’s a bit vague, we know- so we thought we would ask our web designers what do they think is really important to consider when building a mobile version of a business’s website.

Speed

Speed is a really important factor to consider, that’s to say your web designer may spend many months building the mobile version of your website, that’s to say they may spend ages writing HTML and CSS so that the website is designed exactly the way you want, but then what’s the point if the website is then really slow, and this hampers your businesses seo efforts?

So for example, a company may attend many meetings with their design agency, and they may specify that they want a lot of information added to the homepage, plus on the mobile version of the website, they may want a lot of information added, but if the web developers does not recommend that say some detail is removed, then this could cause the businesses website to be slow.

If the website is slow, and you can use a Google Speed Test to see how fast your site is, but if the site is not fast, then this could negatively effect the businesses seo, which could mean that the business will not get the number of visitors that the company had hoped for.

So what’s the solution?

Well, sometimes simple is better, we have been told many times that the websites on the first page of Google look simple, yet sometimes a simple website, one that just has plain text and some information and the design is not overly complicated may serve the business better.

We say that because some businesses opt for a one-page website, yet when there’s so much information on the one-page website, such as a self-loading introduction video of the business, a lot of text, a lot of elements that cause the loading of the company’s website to slow, then this could negatively impact the businesses seo.

Think lightweight pages, think about AMP

It’s exactly the same concept when having to design a sports car, then adding bricks as a dead weight in the boot, its going to hamper performance and the sports car is not going to be much use to anyone.

So, the solution is to think about speed, and by this we mean allowing your web designer to build lightweight pages, that’s to say pages which are sometimes a bit basic looking, but are fast.

So the pages may look a bit basic looking, but what you gain is a faster website, that’s to say when someone is looking to purchase a product say on the train on the way home from work, well, they may not matter if the website looks that intricate, but what they will most definitely want is a website that’s fast, plus also so that the SEO is strong so that the business appears closer to the first page, and having a fast website is known to improve seo, that’s to say if all the other ranking factors such as backlinks are strong as well, then the business stands a higher chance of ranking better.

AMP

Does your business require an AMP version of the website?

This brings us back to our previous point of having a fast website.

Well, an AMP version of your website is like having a sports car, and then going the extra mile to remove any dead weight, such as removing the unnecessary weight that is not needed.

Well, this is exactly the same concept when it comes to building an AMP version of your website, that’s to say the unnecessary HTML, CSS and Javascript are removed, and the website becomes faster because its more simpler.

Faster websites can have a lower bounce rate, this is why so many businesses opt for faster websites, and some businesses here in Cardiff have also invested in having an AMP version of the website built as well.

Easy to use (UX)

Okay, so here’s a really important point, its worth asking your web designer whether they can offer split testing or A/B testing for after your website has been built?

This is so when your websites been built, that’s to say all the main pages, such as the homepage have been built, your web developer may then work on improving the design, this is whilst using A/B testing to see if the improvements are working, that’s to say is the bounce rate decreasing?

Is the number of sales increasing as well, for example the web developer may have improved the main menu, so why not use split testing to see if this is improving the level of sales?

This is where A/B testing can be used to see if the design changes have improved the website, or are they causing the bounce rate to increase?

So what does split testing mean?

Well, sometimes some businesses here in Cardiff Wales will hire a web design business, like our team here at CF24, they may then request we build a CMS website, and then the business may not use our services after the websites been built.

However, far more company’s are now recognising that is so competitive in their business sector, that they need to partner with a web design company, like CF24 to keep making design improvements, to keep improving the site, whether that’s the design, so for example altering the homepage, or hiring a developer to add a new feature such as AMP version of the website.

Yet, there’s no point in making design improvements, spending countless hours drinking coffee and writing HTML coding and CSS coding, not to mention Javascript coding and PHP unless the results are monitored.

For example, a business here in Cardiff, South Wales may hire our web designers to improve how the main menu works, then the company may request that we carry out split testing to see if this improves sales. So we could keep the old website live, and the new website, that has the new menu, to see if the website that has the design improves the businesses sales, or whether the old version was working better, and to revert back to using that design.

Easy to use menu

Is the main menu easy to use, if its not then your business should work with the web designer to improve the menu. It’s so important that the main menu on the AMP version of your website and the mobile version of your website work easily.

That’s to say, is the menu too confusing? Are there too many options?

For example, lets say that your business sells electrical items, you may have 3 drop down boxes for coffee machines, such as “bean to cup”, “espresso machine” “commercial coffee machines”- where sometimes it would be better to just say coffee machines, and get the shopper to that machine, then allow them to shortlist the items from there, if there’s too many items listed in the menu, the shopper may get lost in a maze of products.

A homepage that get’s you to the right page quickly

Here’s the thing, if your homepage is too cluttered, for example there’s too much text then this could increase the businesses bounce rate, however, if the homepage is correctly designed, you can spot which services or products most customers opt for, then put a section to promote that line of products or service, this can then get the customer from the homepage, to where you sell your products with just a click.

So what we are getting at is, on your homepage, on the mobile version of your website, make sure that there’s a section to click on to get the shopper to that range of products, don’t rely just on the main menu.

So for example, lets say you sell mens fragrances, lets say one brand sells the best, well make sure that your web designer puts a section on your homepage for your best sellers, the reason for this is you will help your shoppers to get to a section of the website they may wish to purchase from more quickly, but also you could be helping to reduce your company’s bounce rate.

Also, don’t allow your homepage to stagnate, why not work with your Cardiff web designers to see if you can update your homepage on say a weekly or monthly basis?

This is why many businesses do not let there homepage to become stagnate, instead the business is constantly trying to work out which products are the best sellers at that moment, and to get shoppers to those products as soon as possible.

So, with your homepage on your mobile version of your website, you should work to make sure that offers, or product lines that are your best sellers are mentioned high on your homepage.

How our web design business can help:

If your business is based right here in Cardiff, and your looking for a local web designer, then why not give us a ring?